1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the ubiquity of the Internet Web Page for information and the ubiquity of the telephone and its associated number for quality voice communications and in particular a method of converging these two entities with a capability of connecting a Web Page user (Calling Party) and the Called Party (Web Page advertiser or single party subscriber) via a Managed Voice-over-Internet Protocol Network (MVoIP) that provides carrier-grade voice quality, and performance equal to the existing Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
The present invention also relates to the capability of holding call requests to business customers in a “cyber queue” until such time a business representative (agent) can answer the call. The present invention further provides for Web Page navigational procedures that present value-added information to the business representative thereby reducing business representative work time when a form is completed by the Web Page user and forwarded to the business representative via the proposed invention method. The present invention further provides for “web enabling” an entire company's Web Page, not just the company's Call Center. This relates to the capability of placing a call to any name, number, symbol, etc., located on a Web Page.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Acronyms used herein are identified as follows:                CPE—Customer Premise Equipment        FCC—Federal Communications Commission        IP—Internet Protocol        ISP—Internet Service Provider        LSAP—Local Service Access Provider        MIPN—Managed Internet Protocol Network        MVoIP—Managed Voice-over-Internet Protocol        PBX—Private Branch Exchange        PSTN—Public Switching Telephone Network        PUC—Public Utilities Commission        SS7—Signaling System #7 Network        VoIP—Voice-over-Internet Protocol        
The Internet has brought about many exciting communications capabilities for consumers. There are, however, needs and solutions for consumers (on-line Web Page users/surfers) to have collaborative communications, voice and/or data interaction with a business or its service Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) by utilizing information derived while browsing a Web Page. Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) is defined herein as equipment located at customer location (Calling or Called Party) which provides quality voice and voice and/or data capability for the user. Examples of these devices include, but are not limited to, telephones, personal computers (PC), multimedia PC, multimedia cable television, cellular phones, Call Center equipment, etc. A “Call Center” is defined herein as Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) where agents (more than one agent) both receive and provide bidirectional voice and/or Internet Protocol (IP) data between a Calling Person and a Called Party (an advertiser's agent).
The Called Party may be a Web Page Internet advertiser, in which case the advertiser service Call Center is coupled to a Local Service Access Provider (LSAP) for transmission of voice and/or voice and data to the Web Page user (Calling Party). An LSAP (Local Service Access Provider) is defined herein as a telephone system that couples all of the CPE in a local area to each other internally and to external systems such as the PSTN. The LSAP provides local access to all of its coupled CPE customers. No toll charges apply on calls between these CPE customers connected to the same LSAP. Toll charges apply on calls connected from an LSAP to the PSTN which switches these calls to another LSAP. For purposes of discussion within this application, the PSTN is defined herein as that part of the government regulated telephone network that couples one LSAP with another different LSAP.
Toll-free 1-800 calling is an example of calls made over the existing PSTN by telephone users. For example, calls made to an airlines using the traditional 1-800 calling services are routed over the PSTN. This network is regulated by both federal (FCC) and state (PUC) government regulatory bodies. These regulations have added access charges, interstate, intrastate, and 800 settlement charges, to name a few costs associated therewith.
Currently without the use of the Internet callers dial a toll-free 800 number and the charges are billed to the 1-800 business customer and not to the Calling Party. Thus, the routing of such call is via the regulated PSTN. When the call arrives at a typical service CPE Call Center, numerous directory menus and voice prompts delay the actual conversation with an agent. This, of course, creates aggravation for the Calling Party. Further, billing charges for the call to the advertiser (Called Party) starts at the beginning of receipt of the automated directory and prompts (answer), not the actual voice conversation with the Called Party agent.
This implementation does not allow for implementation of call handling functionality in the network to reduce costs and/or provide caller convenience. The government regulations present telephone network planners with very little room for design when attempting to be competitive. The present PSTN is also difficult to adapt to new, evolving technology such as the Internet Protocols (IP).
Thus, today, when anyone calls 1-800-ANY-AIRLINE from a telephone 16, from a system 10 such as shown in FIG. 1, the telephone 16 is a part of a Customer Premise Equipment area 12. For purposes of explanation in the application, the CPE area 12 will be designated as the “Calling Party”. The call from the Calling Party is routed through the local access distribution circuit 24 to the PSTN 30 and then to the airline CPE Call Center 20 where agents reside to answer service or sales calls. The first event that occurs, when the Call Center system 20 identifies a new call, is that an automated attendant answers the caller. Then, by using a set of directory menus and voice prompts, the automated attendant attempts to identify the service need or needs for routing the call to a specialized agent. The following voice prompts are typical:
“Press (1) If you need arrival or departure information”
“press (2) if you need reservations within the united states”,
“Press (3) if you need reservations for international flights”,
“Press (4) if you need assistance for any airline vacation planning”
“Press (5) for all other inquiries”,
“Press (6) to hear the prompts again”.
These prompts may take up to 35 seconds or more. After one has chosen to make a reservation and pressed (2), the call is placed in a queue and the next available, specialized agent will be given that call to answer. This queue timing is dependent on the number of agents available and how busy they are at the time the incoming call is received. Thus, the queue timing may range anywhere from five seconds to several minutes or longer. For purposes of the present explanation, a queue time of 15 seconds will be used. As identified in this example, the prompts may be listened to for 35 seconds and the queue time for waiting for an agent is 15 seconds. This represents a total of 50 seconds or more of billing time to any the business customer before the Calling Party starts actual conversation with an agent. During this time costly switch ports and voice circuit facilities are also being used prior to actual dialogue with an advertiser's agent (Called Party).
At this point, a discovery dialogue starts as to when the Calling Person wants to travel, how many people will be traveling, the frequent flier number, the return dates, preferences and the like, and, of course, the credit card number. This process takes approximately 15 minutes.
Thus, as seen in FIG. 1, the 1-800 Calling Person 12 has a telephone 16 that is coupled to an LSAP switch 14. The Calling Person also may have a Web Page user PC 18 coupled to the telephone lines 32 through the LSAP switch 14. When the 1-800 number is dialed, the Signaling System #7 Network 28 (SS7—a system well known in the communications industry) sets up the call from the PSTN switch access 26 portion of LSAP 14 to LSAP 22 which has coupled to it the service provider's CPE with Call Center 20. Voice connections are made through the regulated PSTN 30 and associated telephone lines 32 and 34. Thereafter, the automated attendant responds with options to the Calling Person 12, who can then make the choices as described earlier through the PSTN
In addition, the 1-800 call could be made through the international telephone network 38 when set up by the SS7 gateway 36, and the telephone calls are then routed over telephone lines 40 and 42 to the international Local Service Access Provider (LSAP) 44 and the Called Party telephone 46. Of course, the Called Party 46 may also have a personal computer 48.
The Internet is frequently used to browse over the Web Pages to find a particular product or desired service having an associated 1-800 number and the Web Page user can, by using his telephone, then call the 1-800 number over the PSTN as described earlier.
Thus as shown in FIG. 2, the Calling Person 12 may use his personal computer 18 that is coupled through LSAP 14 to a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) access 52 and line 55 to the Internet network 54. There, the Calling Party (Web Page user) may browse the Web Pages that are provided by a Web server 58 until a desired product or service is located. When such desired product/service is located, formal voice communications may be required, clearing up open-ended issues such as specific color or size in stock, special pricing or fares, credit card security, perceptions, product questions and comparisons, and the like. In the majority of cases, customers close the transaction only after some formal voice communication.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of the prior art system 50 in which the Internet is used to complete such business transaction. Thus, when the Internet user logs onto the Internet, a dial-up connection is used through the LSAP 14 and Local ISP access 52 to access the Internet network 54. After the proper connection is made to the Internet network 54 on line 55, the user may browse the Internet to locate product information or services desired. Web information is stored on Web Pages located in Web servers 56 and 58, connected to the Internet 54. Once the consumer has determined the product or services in which there is interest, the Web Page, containing a well-known “call me” capability permits the consumer to have follow-up voice and/or IP data communications using the existing Internet network and/or the PSTN.
Existing art “call me” capability will use two different methods of voice communications with the Web user. The first requires the implementation of first equipment (PC) that interfaces the Internet and second equipment (a telephone) that has direct connections to the PSTN. From that point on, i.e., when the telephone is used, the call is a typical PSTN call with all the problems of cost and inconvenience to the Calling Party. This implementation actually requires two PSTN calls to be made: a device (server computer) in the PSTN places a call to the phone number of the Web Page user (Calling Party) over the PSTN and also places a call to the Calling Party This doubles the communication cost to the business just to get the Web Page user to communicate person-to-person with the business. If the Web Page user (browser) has two telephones, he may use one of the phones to call the 800 toll-free number through the PSTN as described previously while the PC remains coupled to the Internet to receive IP data. If the Web Page user has only one phone line and is connected through it to the Internet, the user can either disconnect from the Internet and place the call on the 1-800 call through the normal PSTN, or can place the 1-800 call to the service Call Center 20 using the “call me” capability on the Web Page. The connection will be made through Internet connection 59 from the Internet network 54 to the local ISP access 60 in LSAP switch 22. The CPE equipment in this case the Call Center agents equipment 20, must be Voice-over-Internet Protocol compatible and enabled. The CPE equipment at the Calling Party CPE 12 must also be Voice-over-Internet Protocol compatible and enabled.
If the call is placed over the PSTN, the call is generally noted as a “cold call” and is similar to any 1-800 call to a business or business Call Center described earlier. This type of call requires voice prompts and queue times that, as stated previously, adds costs to the long distance telephone bill and uses expensive switch ports and facilities. If this call is made using the “call me” capability of existing art, and Voice-over-Internet Protocol is used over the existing Internet, the voice quality, network reliability, and performance of the existing Internet networks become a major problem for true quality business applications. Call delivery, latency, and delay all play an important factor in quality voice service. The Internet was designed and implemented to deliver data application to the masses, not to deliver quality voice to business applications.
As can be seen in FIG. 2, in the prior art, the Internet 54 could also place a call on line 57 to an international LSAP using its ISP local access 44 which has coupled to it CPE 46 which may include a telephone coupled to a PC or advertiser's call agents connected to a Call Center.
The problems associated with prior art utilizing calls over the PSTN are many.
First, the cost of delivery of 800-type traffic over the existing regulated PSTN is very capital intensive. Thus customers must absorb these costs plus the profit added by the carrier, whether the bill is being paid by the Calling Party or the Called Party. Every PSTN call requires capital expenditures in switch ports throughout the network. Every connection to a switch port requires capital or lease expense in physical voice facilities. All of this equipment requires floor space, power, maintenance etc. on an ongoing basis.
Second, the PSTN does not allow for queuing in the network to allow the 800 business customers (Called Party) to save on calls while awaiting answer by the Called Party agent.
The existing method of calling over the PSTN does not deliver an informed customer to the advertiser's CPE. Present art only allows a customer to be prescreened to the effect of the voice prompts made available to the Calling Party.
The problems associated with calls made over the Internet with the prior art are also numerous.
Present state-of-the-art requires that the Web Page user have a PC capable of supporting compatible Voice-over-Internet Protocols such as H-323 standards. Not all Web Page users have microphones, speakers, and the software available on their PC to support this prior art, thus it is not ubiquitous. Most businesses do not provide multi-media PCs to their employees. However, almost all employees have telephones and computers with Internet access. The present Internet has no guaranteed delivery of service end-to-end because present Internet networks are designed to be data networks not voice and data networks. Also, voice quality, as presently exists on the Internet, is far too inferior and unpredictable for any type of business application which requires communications between the Web Page user and the Web Page advertiser. Business customers expect the same quality of voice and reliability as is presently available over the PSTN. Further, the prior art system does not allow for total utilization of Internet Protocol (IP) technology such as queuing Web Page users in “cyber space” while waiting for an available advertiser agent to become available. Prior art implementation in some cases connects the Web Page user with the advertiser agent by placing calls through the PSTN which provides the same problems as previously described in prior art with calls on the PSTN. In addition, the prior art does not allow for coordination between the Web Page and CPE Call Center procedures. With the prior art there is clearly no ubiquity in service due to not all the CPE of Calling Parties having multimedia capability, i.e. microphones, speaker, Voice-over-IP software compatibility. In addition, prior art implementations allow access to advertiser agents through use of chat, e-mail, etc. which do not solve the cultural issues such as the need to have personal voice contact when completing a transaction. Existing art is based on the concept of callback for voice communications. This is because the prior art is based on an implementation where the agent gets the Web user's information such as telephone number, from the chat session, the e-mail received, or the information received on a Web-enabled agent screen. The agent then places a call to the Calling Party, thus the “callback” scenario. This creates problems in coordinating the callback with the availability of the Calling Party. This method of implementation does not allow for instant buying by the Calling Party.
A big disadvantage to prior art callback scenarios is that it does not allow calls to be made to an individual single phone number other than over the PSTN.
Prior art “call me” capability only allows calls to agents that can call back if a quality voice connection is required. Remember, in the prior art the agent receives the information over the Internet via chat requests or e-mail. The problems with voice connections over the Internet have been discussed earlier.
Other problems with prior art includes the situation with Web Page users (Calling Party) searching the Web and finding a site which displays only a 1-800 number to call for voice communications. The international dialing plan does not allow the 800 number to be dialed from an international location. The cost of dialing internationally also prohibits commerce in these situations. Also, the present state of the art does not allow phone conversation to be established from any Web Page user anywhere in the world to any number, symbol, or name on a Web Page anywhere else in the world in a simple, reliable manner by a simple “click” of the mouse on the Web Page user's PC.
A summary of the operation of the prior art Internet service is as follows. The Calling Party goes off-hook with his telephone connected to the LSAP. The LSAP returns a dial-tone (ready-to-receive digits). The Calling Party (Web Page user) then enters the Internet Service Provider's access digits. The user logs onto the Internet and selects a company Web Page. The user then wants to verify the product or service and complete the transaction. The company access number (typically, 1+800) is obtained from the Web Page and the Web Page user either hangs up (to clear the telephone line) and dials the service Call Center on the 1+800 number, or uses a second line to call the company's service Call Center 1+800 number.
If the user has to hang up to complete the call, he disconnects his PC from the Internet after having obtained the 1+800 access number and then goes off-hook again towards the LSAP. The LSAP returns a dial-tone (ready-to-receive digits) and the user then enters the 1-800 number for the desired service Call Center. If the PSTN is used, then the call is completed as described earlier.
If the Web Page user desires to make a call through the Internet network 54 the instructions on the Web Page are followed and the connection is made from the user PC through the ISP network 54. Again, the voice quality is very poor, the service is not guaranteed, and the Calling Party PC and the called party CPE must be Voice-over-IP compatible. As stated earlier this is not a ubiquitous offering.
Since the federal government has ruled that the IP networks will not be regulated in the same manner as the present PSTN system, a tremendous opportunity exists for innovative solutions that deal with today's communications costs and inherent issues.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a methodology and solution to eliminate voice prompts and the costs that are charged prior to answer by an agent with the use of Web Page navigation and selection. Further, it would be advantageous to have ubiquitous access to any CPE on any LSAP with a MVoIP methodology and implementation. This MVoIP must be of same carrier-grade voice quality of the PSTN so that major business customer could offer this calling service to their customers. It would also be advantageous to have the capability of calling any number, name, or symbol from a Web Page over the MVoIP network.